Finishing horseshoe-nail blanks



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-LSheet 1.

W. W. MINER.

FINISHING HORSESEOB NAIL BLANKS.

No. 287,150. M l y Patented Oct. Z3, 1883.

UDL/Nd V (No Model.) `2 Sheets-.Sheet 2.,

W. W. MINER.

PINISHING HORSBSHOE NAIL BLANKS. No. 287,150. Y 'Pa.1; =m ed`Octl 23,1883.

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FINISHINGHORSESHOE-.NAIL BLANKS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 287,15'0, dated October23, 1883. i

Application filed November 6, 1882.

.To a/ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it knownthat I, WILLIAM W. MINER,

of Boston, county of Suffolk, and State of Masv sachusetts, haveinvented an Improvement in Mechanism for Enlarging and Hardening theHeads of Horseshoe-Nail Blanks, of which the following description, inconnection with the accompanying drawings, is a speciflcation, likeletters on the drawings representing like parts.

The object 0f my invention is the production of a mechanism to firstenlarge or spread the head of a horseshoe-nail blank and then harden it,and in the machine herein shown, devised by me for such purpose, theprocess or method by which the head is enlarged and then hardenedis anovel one. The blanks in the condition left by cutting them from ahot-rolled plate or by hot-'forging are automatically fed toward andpresented to the action of a fuller-die, as it is termed, which indentsthe metal ofthe head and crowds it' toward opposite side edges of thehead, to be subsequently flattened by a flattening die, which, by itsaction on the said head, compresses the then thickest portions each sideof the fuller-crease to equal the thickness of the head from back tofront measured in the line of the fuller-crease, the metal of the headof the blank during the flattening operation expanding laterally betweenthe fuller-die and its anvil, and being hardened. rlhe flattening orhardening die is also made the means of stamping a trade-mark upon thehead ofthe nail.

Figure 1 represents in top or plan view a machine embodying myinvention; Fig. 2, a section thereof on the line xix, Fig. 1; Fig. 3, adetail Showing one form of lifting device to lift the suspended blanksand place their heads between the anvils and dies to` enable the dies tooperate upon the said heads at the proper times; Fig. 4, a plan view andside elevation of the fuller-die plunger; Fig. 5, a view of theblank-feeding device removed from the machine; Fig. 6, details in sideelevation and plan view of the finishing or hardening die and its anvil;Fig. 7, like views of the .fuller-die and its anvil 5 Fig. 8, edge,face, and head end views of the blank to be headed; Fig. 9, like viewsof the blank after having (No model.)

,shaft A has at one end a toothed gear, B, which engages a toothed gear,B', on the blank-feeder C, shown as a screw supported in bearings c c,rising from the frame-work, the said screw rotating, but not movinglongitudinally. The screw has at its side, and parallel with it,guidesurfaces D D D3, between which and the threads 2 of the screw areplaced the Shanks of the blanks to be headed, the spiral channel betweenthe threads 2 being of sufficient width to admit within it the Shanksofthe said blanks,

which thus drop into the spaces 12 between the body of the screw O, itsthreads 2, and the guide D, (see Fig. 2,) the heads of the blanks thenresting on the upper curved surface of the threads, which thus preventthe blanks from falling wholly through.

The blanks are supplied to the machine by an attendant inserting theirpoints into the spaces 12 between the feed-screw and guidesurface D, andon this portion of the feedscrew the thread is of low pitchfor example,two and one-half threads to the inch-in order to give the blanks as slowa movement as consistent with the subsequent operation of the machine,thus rendering it easy for the attendant to keep the slowly-movingspaces 12 filled with blanks, the width of the thread or space betweenthe successive turns of the spiral channel being only sufficient toreceive the blanks without actual contact or interference of the headportions of adjacent blanks. The spiral channel around the' portionofthe feedscrew C beyond the guide-surface D, in the direction of thearrowg13, Fig. 1, or within the guide-surfaces D D2, is of steeperpitch-for example, three-fourths of aturn to the inch-so as to separatethe blanks farther from one another to avoid interference between themin IOO the subsequent operation ofthe machine, they then being movedalong with a greater speed, and at `the point 3, opposite thefuller-anvil,77 the channel is made for a short distance somewhat lessthan one-half a turn at right angles to the length of the screw, so thatthe feeding movement ceases for a moment, and the blank, raised as willbe hereinafter described, remains at rest opposite the fulleranvil elong enough to permit the fullerdie c to be thrown forward and strikethe front of the head of the blank g and full or indent it, as at e2,Fig. 9, leaving the head of the blank as shown in Fig. 9. The head ofthe blank before acted upon by the fuller- (lie was of the shape shownin Fig. 8. After the fuller-die has `been thrown forward against thestationary nail-blank, and has retired from. contact with the blank, thespiral portion 'of the feed-channel beyond the straight portion 3 againcarries the blank along until it arrives opposite the finishing anvil h,and, being raised into proper position, it will be struck by thefinishing-die 7L. It will be noticed that the feed-channel of the screwor blank feeder opposite the finishing-anvil h is again made to assume adirection at right angles to the axis of the screw for a sufficientdistance, as at 5, to enable the blank to be held at rest long enoughbetween the Vsaid anvil and die, while the rotation of the screw C iscontinued,

' for the finishing-die to be thrown forward,

strike the fulled or indented face of the head of the blank, shaped asin Fig. 9, iiatten and spread it, and bring it into the condition shownin Fig. 10, where it will be noticed that the thickness of the entirehead is substantially equal to the thickness ofthe head ofthe blank,measured through its indented portion. (Shown best in Fig. 9.) e

The heads of the nail-blanks in the feedscrew will normally fall belowthe level ofthe dies and anvils, and to bring such heads' in line withsaid dies and anvils, I arrange in vertical line with the latter devicesto lift or raise the nail-blanks longitudinally until theirheads aresuccessively in the paths of movement of the dies, and as the nails comeopposite said dies. I have herein shown such devices as stationaryinclines or cams r, arranged below the feedscrew in the path of travelof the nail-blanks. The nishingdie and its anvil, acting upon the highpoints 7 8 of the head of the blank, (points produced by'the action ofthe fullerdie and anvil when the head of the blank was between them,)iiatten the said points and cause the metal contained in them to movelaterally, thus expanding or spreading the head, making it wider orbroader in the line 10 10. The head of the blank when acted upon by thefuller-die is in the condition of the metal left by hot-rolling orhot-forging, so the fuller-die easily indents and spreads the head. Thefinishing-die or anvil in thus acting on the head hardens it; but thedie does not come in contact with that part of the blank which, in

the finished nail, falls at the junction of the shoe or hoof; hence thatpart of the blank and nail sometimes called the neck is not hardened,but is left in the condition resulting from cutting a blank from ahot-rolled metal plate. As soon as the finishing or hardening die hasbeenwithdrawn from contact with the face of the head of the blank, thethreads of the screw or feeder again commence to carry the blank alongto the delivery end 6 of the said feeder, where the guide-surface at theside of the screw-viz., the surface which keeps the shank of the blankpressed into the spaces between the projecting threads of thescrew-being omitted, the blank drops out into a suitable box orreceptacle. For most of its distance, especially from opposite thefuller-die, the guide-surfaces D D2 referred to havehorizontally-projecting top flanges, which extend over the heads of theblanks being carried along by the screw. 'Ihe novel feature of thisfeeder for the Iblanks consists in the change of the pitch of itsscrew-threads to enable the same screw in continuous rotation to feedthe blank forward, and at times hold it at restV long enough to permitthe dies to act upon the head of the blank.

The finishingdie may have its end cut in relief to impart any usualtrade-mark upon the face or front of the head.

The dies e and h are carried by like plungers or slides m lm, guided insuitable guides of the frame, and having rollers n, which are struck bythe cams a, a2 on the main shaft, the said cams throwing the saidplungers and their dies forward against the heads of the blanks, asdescribed, certain springs, m2, connected with the frame-work and withpins or studs m of the said plungers, keeping the rollers n against thesaid cams and effecting the retrac- -tion of the plungers and dies. 'Ihedies e h will be made adjustable in the plungers. Figs. 6 and 7 show theshapes of the acting ends or faces of the two dies and theirco-operating anvils. rIhe face of the finishing-anvil and of the die isso shaped and inclined with relation r to the screw which engages theshank or body of the blank that the said die will leave the face of theblank inclined outward from the neck of the blank to the top of itshead, but will leave the back of the head straight, or in the samestraight line with the neck and body of the blank.

I do not broadly claim a feed-screw to carry nailblanks through amachine.

I claiml. The fuller-die and an opposed anvil to act upon and full orindent, as described, the head of a nail-blank, combined with a liftingdevice and with a blank-feeding screw having a feeding-channel adaptedto carry the blank to and between the dies and anvil, hold it at rest tobe struck by the die, and after the action of the die upon the head ofthe blank carry the blank away from between the die and anvil, andmeansto move the blank in the IOO IIO

-direction of its length, all substantially as and for the purposesdescribed.

2. The fuller-die and anvil to full or indent the head ofthe blank, andthe finishing-die and anvil to Hatten the head of the blank, combinedwith the feeding-screw having a feedingchannel of a variable pitch tomove the blanks between the said dies and anvils and hold them at restwhile being struck by the said die's and carry the blanks from betweenthe dies and anvils, and with means for moving the blank longitudinally,all substantially as and for the purposes described.

3. The fuller-die and anvil to full or indent the head of the blank, andthe iinishing-die and anvil to Hatten the head of the blank, combinedwith means to move the blank longitudinally and with the feeding-screwhaving a feeding-channel of a variable pitch to move the blanks betweenthe said dies and anvils and'hold them at rest while being struck by thesaid dies and carry the blanks from be- I tween the dies and anvils, allsubstantially as K and for the purposes described.

4. rlhe fuller-die and anvil to full or indent the head of the blankvertically, and the iinf WILLIAM W. M'INER.

Vitn esses:

G. W. GREGORY, B. J. NoYns.

